Given some of the road conditions in Chicago, I predict a lot of inline skaters falling flat on their faces and getting run over by a city bus or a taxi driver when they hit one of the several million potholes that exist on our roads.

Ikam:Given some of the road conditions in Chicago, I predict a lot of inline skaters falling flat on their faces and getting run over by a city bus or a taxi driver when they hit one of the several million potholes that exist on our roads.

Fark_Guy_Rob:For all the 'share the road' stuff they throw around, the second you go into their 'bicycle lane' you'd damn better be on a bicycle or they'll eat you alive.

Why would they do that? From what I've seen, the douche bags would rather ride three abreast on the road and block as much traffic as possible rather than use the well marked bike lane right next to them. They biatch about the lack of bike lanes, and when they get built, refuse to use them.

Fark_Guy_Rob:All of the same 'bicycle vs car' arguments hold up for 'skaters vs bicycles'. The only difference is the smug cyclists are the ones who are going to be annoyed.

For all the 'share the road' stuff they throw around, the second you go into their 'bicycle lane' you'd damn better be on a bicycle or they'll eat you alive.

As a non-car-owning, high property-tax-paying urbanite, damn straight. You can expect me to be right in the left-turn lane, too.

I'm a cyclist who would be fine with licensing if I thought it would pay for more bike lanes or better standards for both bike and car drivers.

Now, electric bikes? That's something cyclists and drivers can hate together. Worst of both worlds from the view from my saddle, and they don't yet require a licence despite being more of a "vehicle" than a bike.

Tanukis_Parachute:january 1 and already had a run in with a cyclist that thought the stop sign was a 'suggestion'.

four way stop...i got there first. start to go and a biker blows thru from my right and starts yelling at me for having the audacity to slow him down.

he yelled at me that he was in 'training'. i guess it is training to be dead quicker.

I would concur, except I hope that's the exception. The reality is that you likely don't see cyclists who follow the traffic rules. For me on a bike doing 15-20 mph, the biggest danger has shifted from getting door prized to pimp-slapping women who jaywalk with their nose in a text message.

I wonder what the Doppler-shifted sound of me yelling "I could've been a car, you moron" sounds like?

I used to skateboard in the bicycle lanes in Philly. No cyclist ever gave me crap for it. Cars, on the other hand, would TRY and run you over. I have no problem with rollerbladers or anyone else with wheels using these lanes. Skateboarding in the road is much safer for yourself and pedestrians...Just make sure you have some skills first...

I've wondered why they aren't required to put a license plate on their bicycles. Obviously, not every bicycle - the backlash would be enormous if they tried to make you license your 6 year old's training bike. But require licenses for bicycles that travel on roads where the speed limit is greater than 25. I live in St. Louis. I doubt our problem is nearly as bad as it is in other cities, but there are enough here to make it an issue. I've seen them travel in packs and block lanes, run lights, run stop signs (that one is the worst - they treat them like they are completely optional), and there seems to be a complete disregard for hand signals.

You make a great point. There are no consequences for breaking the law and they know it.

Fluid:Is there no such thing as separate bicycle lanes on US roads? I'm not really up-to-date on how that kinda thing works in other countries.

Some have them some don't. I live near Philly and they just started putting them in around the city, farking up traffic pretty good, the bikers hardly use them and are still in the damn way all the time.

As opposed to the speeders and red light runners in motor vehicles? Please.Now add in the cost to take care of the damage done by the respective vehicles. 200lbs (me+bike) crashing into something does not begin to approach the damage of 4600lbs (me+F-150) crashing into something.

I fully agree that a LOT of cyclists routinely do stupid shiat. Blow red lights and stop signs, ride the wrong direction, etc, etc, etc. Asshats.But so do motor vehicle operators. I could pick any random 1000 yard stretch of street here, and I would be surprised if the percentage of MV operators breaking some law was under 80%.

You notice the bike riders, because they annoy you. If one were to follow you around, how many laws do you break on a normal day?

I've wondered why they aren't required to put a license plate on their bicycles. Obviously, not every bicycle - the backlash would be enormous if they tried to make you license your 6 year old's training bike. But require licenses for bicycles that travel on roads where the speed limit is greater than 25. I live in St. Louis. I doubt our problem is nearly as bad as it is in other cities, but there are enough here to make it an issue. I've seen them travel in packs and block lanes, run lights, run stop signs (that one is the worst - they treat them like they are completely optional), and there seems to be a complete disregard for hand signals.

You make a great point. There are no consequences for breaking the law and they know it.

I know some cities have tried to do this, but there is always backlash from the cycling community, that people own lots of bikes, it will be an unfair tax, etc.

I think that if people did have tags on their bikes, then they'd think the likeness that they'd be ticketed for illegal behavior would be greater.

/and I say this all as an avid cyclist//when weather gets warm I bike from the UWS in NYC up to the Tappan Zee Bridge Bridge///and I do stop at most traffic lights -- only ones I run are on Riverside drive where there is a light but the intersection is a T, so there is no traffic going through it.

As opposed to the speeders and red light runners in motor vehicles? Please.Now add in the cost to take care of the damage done by the respective vehicles. 200lbs (me+bike) crashing into something does not begin to approach the damage of 4600lbs (me+F-150) crashing into something.

I fully agree that a LOT of cyclists routinely do stupid shiat. Blow red lights and stop signs, ride the wrong direction, etc, etc, etc. Asshats.But so do motor vehicle operators. I could pick any random 1000 yard stretch of street here, and I would be surprised if the percentage of MV operators breaking some law was under 80%.

You notice the bike riders, because they annoy you. If one were to follow you around, how many laws do you break on a normal day?

I completely agree with this. To all those saying, "OMG, WHY U NO GIVE TICKETS TO CYCLISTS WHO RUN RED LIGHT?" I would love to see how many of you jaywalk.

Since I ride mostly on sparsely traveled country roads I don't have too many run-ins with motorists. I'm not a bike snob, I just enjoy riding (and racing) my bike. (I also enjoy driving my cars.) Since I really do have "training" rides, I prefer to not have to stop every block for stop lights/signs. Riding the country gives me miles and miles of uninterrupted riding. I do treat country stop signs as yield signs when I can see that it is safe from all directions. (Being from the midwest, it sucks once the corn gets high. I have to slow to a crawl at even non-marked intersections.)

In the city I ride in the road but don't hog a lane. Personally I'd like the cars to get around me as quickly as possible. Less chance for them to hit me from the front. I typically avoid bike lanes since they are just the collection lanes for where the street sweepers push the busted glass, etc. There are a couple places where I chose the bike lane instead of the heavier traveled road. And it's annoying when I have to either swerve into the road or ride through the grass to avoid the group of joggers taking up the whole bike lane.

The biggest problem I have with assh*le motorists are the guys in jacked up trucks with 'truck balls' that like to pass me (or a group) slowly then hammer it leaving us in a cloud of diesel smoke. I guess that kind of thing makes them feel better about being 100lbs overweight when they see a group of fit guys riding bikes. The other thing that's annoying is these motorists think they're experts in traffic laws. In my area it's illegal to ride a bike on a sidewalk and it is legal for cyclists to ride in a double single-file line (just like motorcycles). Despite this we get yelled at to go single file or get on the sidewalk quite a bit. All of this in the short amount of time we're riding on city streets to get out to the country.

Living in a college town I see a lot of what probably gets people upset about cyclists. Unfortunately people seem to generalize. Once they see one idiot cyclist, they lump us all together.

They do this once a year or so at the college I work at. Its always funny listening to the bicyclists whine about getting as ticket for riding the wrong way on a one way street.

Boston police announced they were not enforcing traffic laws against bicyclists. Boston University police stepped in, to the surprise of students. One of the local papers had a Schadenfreude-inducing whinefest.

Three college students have died riding into or under trucks and buses so far this last year in the area around BU, with none of the drivers yet found at fault.

As opposed to the speeders and red light runners in motor vehicles? Please.Now add in the cost to take care of the damage done by the respective vehicles. 200lbs (me+bike) crashing into something does not begin to approach the damage of 4600lbs (me+F-150) crashing into something.

I fully agree that a LOT of cyclists routinely do stupid shiat. Blow red lights and stop signs, ride the wrong direction, etc, etc, etc. Asshats.But so do motor vehicle operators. I could pick any random 1000 yard stretch of street here, and I would be surprised if the percentage of MV operators breaking some law was under 80%.

You notice the bike riders, because they annoy you. If one were to follow you around, how many laws do you break on a normal day?

I would say the laws that never go enforced with MV are the ones there is always outrage against, such as talking on a cell phone while driving.

People act like it's their god given right to talk or text while driving; 9 out of 10 times when I see someone drifting into another lane or obstructing traffic because they're going way under the speed limit, they're on their phone.

So it's kinda the same deal as cyclists. We have laws, but if enough people think they shouldn't be enforced, they never are.